Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 11th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Our creative industries are a vital part of our economy and our country. When we look at the great results at the BAFTAs and the high hopes that we have for the Oscars, it is clear that British television and British film are conquering the world. Bournemouth university plays a very important part in that, because its training of some of our digital effects specialists and of many of our creative people is a key part of this vital and growing industry.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q2. Last week at Prime Minister’s questions, I warned the Prime Minister about falling wages. This week, he said that Britain needs a pay rise, so I am glad to see that he is waking up to reality. Does he now agree with me that the people who most need that pay rise are the families who have lost £1,600 a year under this Government, and not those at the top to whom he has given massive tax cuts?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady will find that the wages in the public and private sectors are growing ahead of inflation, which is good. As we have raised to £10,000 the amount of money people can earn before they start paying taxes, they are better off. In Scotland, there are 175,000 more people in work today than when I became Prime Minister. As a result of growth in the jobs market, growth in wages, cuts in taxes, and an increase in the minimum wage, things are getting better for families in Scotland.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 4th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I am sure that everyone would like me to put on record my praise for those incredibly brave people who have worked in very difficult conditions, including over Christmas. They include doctors and nurses from our NHS and people from our armed forces, our civil service and non-governmental organisations. They are helping to save thousands of lives in Africa and protecting the UK from the potentially disastrous consequences of the disease spreading. In recognition of the bravery of those from the UK, I intend to recommend to Her Majesty the Queen the introduction of a new medal to pay tribute to their efforts. Details will be out in due course, and this should be in place by the summer. It is absolutely right to say that those people are incredibly brave and that we owe them an immense debt of gratitude.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

Today’s “Green Budget” from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that median wages were still almost 5% lower last year than they were in 2008. Will the Prime Minister now admit that families across the country are indeed facing a cost of living crisis?

[The Prime Minister]

What the “Green Budget” today shows—I think we should take this as an important reference work—is that Labour would lead to an extra £170 billion of borrowing. That is the official figure. The shadow Chancellor was busy yesterday. In another of his interventions, he said on Radio 2 that “debt would be higher”. The cat is out of the bag. It is official: Labour would borrow, tax and spend more, and do all the things to put us back into the mess we got out of.

European Council

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 27th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

We have heard a great deal about what the Prime Minister will not pay in relation to the EU budget, so can he give us any indication of what he is prepared to pay? Will he confirm that the UK would face fines if anything was not paid by the appropriate date?

[The Prime Minister]

I was very clear in the statement that every year we have these adjustments, and they are normally modest adjustments, sometimes up a bit, sometimes down a bit. What is not acceptable is a bill for €2 billion with only a month to go.

European Council

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 30th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

There are a number of things that we need to change in Europe. The working time directive has done great damage, including to our health service, and we never approved of it in the first place. That is very important. We will continue to have discussions with the Germans and others about all the things that we want to change as part of our renegotiation.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does the Prime Minister agree that, having forced a vote, losing it by 26:2 does not make a good platform for future negotiations?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not agree. This was about the future leadership of the Commission, an issue on which political party after political party in Europe had signed up to the leading candidate process. They created, as I put it, a conveyor belt that they could not get off. I do not think that that has such big implications for future negotiations. I said that it has probably made it harder, and I suspect it has, but if we show real fortitude and drive in bringing forward that agenda, there is no reason why we cannot succeed.

European Council

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 10th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point, which is that we should keep saying to the interim Ukrainian Government, and indeed to any new elected Ukrainian Government, that they should respect the rights of minorities and the rights of Russian speakers. We should also uncover how much of the propaganda we have been told about these sorts of things is made up, exaggerated and fabricated. We must not let the Russians get away with a propaganda campaign that says that were it not for the action of Russian troops in Crimea there would somehow have been an appalling bloodbath. I do not think that that is the truth at all, and we should challenge that at every opportunity.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Prime Minister made reference in his statement to the importance of stabilising the new Ukrainian economy, and to the role of the EU and the International Monetary Fund. Can he give us more information on when the EU will be bringing forward a clear timetable and the milestones for the release of the financial assistance package?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady asks a very important question. The EU, rightly, is being guided by the IMF team in Ukraine. The IMF has the real expertise on what is needed in terms of conditions, guarantees and undertakings on economic reforms to release an IMF programme. The majority of the EU money is conditional on that IMF programme going ahead.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 12th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q5. Two weeks ago, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury refused to rule out any further tax cuts for millionaires, but last week he said that that would be over his dead body. Can the Prime Minister help him out today by ruling out any further tax cuts for top earners, or should his Chief Secretary be looking to up his life insurance?

[The Prime Minister]

I saw the Chief Secretary this morning at Cobra and he looked alive and well to me, so the hon. Lady does not have any worries on that front. I have said that that is not our priority; our priority is to cut taxes for low and middle earners, and that is what we have done. When it comes to April this year, her constituents will be able to earn £10,000 without paying any income tax at all. That is equivalent to a 10% increase in the minimum wage, and means that their income tax bill will have gone down by two thirds under this Government. Those are the sorts of tax cuts that we are interested in.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 15th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for what he says. We have seen the regional growth fund produce some real economic success stories, and that is being combined with our long-time economic plan to encourage businesses to take on employees, to put in place the infrastructure and, as he says, to back exports in terms of Britain’s performance and get out there and sell to the world.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q5. Given that we have recently heard reports that half a dozen terror suspects could soon be released on to our streets, can the Prime Minister give us an assurance that public safety will not be compromised or put at risk once the Government’s latest experiment with terrorism controls expires?

[The Prime Minister]

I can assure the hon. Lady and the House that we will always take every step necessary to keep the British public safe. I think the terrorism prevention and investigation measures are working well. It is a complete myth to pretend that control orders could be kept in place for ever. Many people were taken off control orders during the existence of TPIMs. I always listen very carefully to the head of the Metropolitan Police Service and to the heads of the Security Service who are involved in drawing up those measures and who advise us on how best to keep our country safe.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 10th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The Labour party has opposed every single welfare change that we have made—£86 billion in total. People in this country, including trade union members, will find it inexplicable that the Labour party thinks you are better off on benefits than you are in work. That shows that not only does it have the wrong relationship with the unions—it has the wrong values, too.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

Can the Prime Minister tell—[Interruption.]

[Cathy Jamieson]

Q11. Perhaps the Prime Minister can tell the House whether Mr Aidan Heavey’s donations to the Conservative party had any influence on the Foreign Secretary’s intervention in his company’s tax dispute?

[The Prime Minister]

As I said, the donations to the Conservative party do not buy votes at our party conference; they do not buy votes for our leader; they do not mean donors can select candidates. That is the unhealthy relationship in British politics, and the Opposition can bluster all they want, but they have been found out in Falkirk and they are being found out across the country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 20th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing me up to date with this important campaign that he and others are leading in Norfolk. We have a much better record on road safety than we have had in recent years, but we should never be complacent and should continue to work on it. Money has been made available for road schemes in Norfolk, the A11 chief among them. I can see from the Minister of State, Department for Transport, the right hon. Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns) nodding vigorously behind my hon. Friend that there may be more to come.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q4. Does the Prime Minister agree with Lord Heseltine that people are suffering under the recession, and that it would be the wrong politics at this time to remove the 50p top rate of tax? Will he now cancel next month’s tax cut for millionaires?

[The Prime Minister]

The point I make to the hon. Lady is that after the start of the financial year the top rate of tax will be higher than in any year when Labour was in office, and I am sure that that is something with which Michael Heseltine would fully agree.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 30th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this subject. It is why we have introduced the red tape challenge, so that all these rules are published on line and businesses and individuals can tell us which ones can be scrapped without harming public safety. At the same time, we have the one-in, one-out rule so that Ministers cannot introduce a new regulation until they have scrapped an existing one. This Government are determined to scrap unnecessary regulation and to help small businesses to employ more people in our country.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

At the last spending review, the Prime Minister said that the £110 rise in child tax credits would have an impact on child poverty. Now that he has taken away that rise and is freezing working tax credit, can he say how many more children will be in poverty in the coming year?

[The Prime Minister]

What we are doing in terms of child tax credit is that it is going to be £390 higher than at the time of the last election. That is a £255 increase this year, which is the largest ever increase in child tax credit. We are adding a further £135 next year—an increase of 5.2%. That is what is happening on child tax credit. Let me make this additional point. If the pension is increased, we see child poverty figures go up, under the definition used by the Labour party. I think that it is right that we increase the pension; I do not think that we harm the life chances of children by giving pensioners what we have given, which is a record cash increase in pensions next year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 9th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises a serious issue—[Interruption.] I can hear, and I can sense, a bit of resistance, which is perhaps not surprising when 85% of Labour’s money comes from the trade unions. When we discuss legislation in this House, we should be bringing our judgment, our ideas and our arguments, not just picking up a tired old brief from a trade union.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q14. In my constituency of Kilmarnock and Loudoun there are over 3,000 people claiming jobseeker’s allowance, but the latest figures show that there were only 300 job vacancies available. Jobs are being lost in the public sector and the private sector. How high does unemployment have to go before the Prime Minister will accept that his economic policies are simply not working?

[The Prime Minister]

Unemployment is too high today, and I want to see it come down from its already high levels. What we have to do to make that happen is to put resources into the apprenticeship scheme and into the Work programme to make sure that we do all the things that help businesses to employ people. That is what this Government are doing. We are cutting corporation tax, introducing enterprise zones and doing everything we can to help businesses. We will do that in the hon. Lady’s constituency and throughout the country.

Public Confidence in the Media and Police

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point: while we should not believe automatically that those practices were spread right across the media, it would be naive to think that they were restricted to one newspaper or one newspaper group. Indeed, when we look at evidence such as Motorman and the Information Commissioner’s report, it is clear that they went wider, and this inquiry and the police investigation must go where the evidence leads. All of us have to ask questions about people we employ if they were involved in those newspapers.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

I heard what the Prime Minister said about consulting the devolved Administrations. For the avoidance of doubt, can he say whether the inquiry extends to Scotland and includes issues that are devolved in Scotland, such as policing? Has he secured the agreement of Scotland’s First Minister for that, and in that context, has he secured an assurance from an uncharacteristically quiet First Minister about his contacts with News International?

[The Prime Minister]

I can confirm that this inquiry extends to Scotland. As I said, we sent the draft terms of reference to the devolved Administrations, and we were able to accept a number of points. There was, I think, one specific point that the Scottish Administration wanted dealt with, concerning the Information Commissioner’s report, which we have not put specifically into the terms but of course it will be dealt with by the inquiry because it is such an important part of the work. More generally, when it comes to the relationship between politicians and media, the inquiry will be able to go where the evidence leads.